High speed cigarette cutter



Nov. 29, 1932.

w* G. FORBES HIGH SPEED CIGARETTE CUTTER Filed Aug. 20, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR Ilwmwin w W n n n l w. lllllm M mw NEE Q mv Paw um A i. m -Frza m .i 1i.; n WHHH.: QN ,Nh IE... mm vw Ni RV ATTO EY Nov. 29, 1932. w- G, FORBES 1,889,404

HIGH SPEED CIGARETTE GUTTER Filed Aug. 20, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lill/ll films,

A TTONEY Patented Nov. 29, 1932 PATENT GFFICE WILLIAM G. FORBES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HIGH SPEEDV CIGARETTE CUTTER Application filed August 20, 1926.

My invention relates toV cut-off mechanism for cigarette machines wherein the tobacco is automatically fed into a continuous strip of paper to fo-rm a continuous closed tobacco tube, which tube is cut into the required lengths to vform the cigarettes.

This application is a division, in part, of my copending application filed Jan. 26, 1926, Serial Number 83,831.

My invention more particularly relates to a method of cutting a cigarette tube, or tubes, and to a high speed cutter which will terially increase the output of such a cigarette machine, with no additional expense other r than substituting my high speed rotary cutter and accessory parts, for the ordinary rocking or reciprocating rotary cutter now in common use.

My invention further relates to cutting the cigarette tube with a sheer cut. My invention further relates to a rotary knife having one or more cutting edges, cooperating with one or more reciprocating ledger plates, the reciprocation of the ledger plates being controlled by the rotation of the knife, to cut cigarettes from one or more cigarettes tubes.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention consists in the method, novel form of my high speedv cigarette" cutter yand that portion of a cigarette machine upon which it is mounted Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, vertical section on j parts, constructions, arrangements, combinak Serial No. 130,366.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the cutter disc and knife cutting one cigarette tube;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail view showing an automatic sharpening device to sharpen the rotary knife on each revolution;

Fig. 8 is a detail of a modification.

My invention is directed to providing a novel and useful cigarette cut-off mechanism adapted to cut cigarette lengths from an axially moving cigarette tube or rod. The mechanism of the invention provides an exceedingly simple, inexpensive and efficientv cut-off mechanism which is adapted to sever cigarettes at speeds very much higher than is possible with existing machines. In addition to its greatly increased speed of operation, the mechanism provides a clean shear cut across the axis of moving cigarette rod without the slightest retardation or buckling of the rod.

One of the broad objects of my invention is to provide an efficient cut-off mechanism operating by purely rotary movement as distinguished from known machines wherein a reciprocating, rocking or other translatory movement is imparted to the cutting blade yin order to make a straight line cut across in itself is purely one of revolution. Accordsuch speeds because there is no rocking or stopping anl starting movement or other eccentricity in the operation of the device. A further object of the invention is to provide novel and useful means for sharpening or grinding the cutting edge of the knife, said grinding means being adapted to cooperate with the normal movement of the knife for cutting operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and useful form of knife or cutter blade which is adapted to cooperate with the novel cut-off mechanism hereinbefore described.

By my invention, l form a simple and economical high speed cigarette cutter, which will out. approximately a thousand or more cigarettes a minute from one cigarette tube, and approximately two thousand or more cigarettes per minute from two cigarette tubes, thereby greatly increasing the output of the cigarette machine and in many instances quadrupling it.

lt will be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description as well. are exemplary and illustrative of the invention, but are not restrictive thereof.

In the illustrative embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, to which my invention is not to be limited, except as delined by my claims, 1 is a cutter disc keyed on the shaft 2 by means of the keys 3 and 4 (Figs. 1 and 2). rlhis shaft is journaled in a sleeve 5 mounted in an adjustable bearing 6, the bearing beingprovided with a screwthreaded boss 7, with which cooperates an adjusting screw 8 passing through the bearing 9 which is secured, by the screw 10, 10 (Fig. 1), to the plate 11. On the end of this screw 8 is secured in any suitable manner, as by the pin 12, an actuating handle 13. The plate 11 is provided with parallel slots 14, 14 with which cooperate the bolts 15, 15, the arrangement being such that after the cutter disc 1, with the sleeve 5 and adjusting bearing 6 has been properly adjusted, it can be locked in the adjusted position by screwing up the nuts 60. 60 cooperating with the bolts 15, 15. rllhe heads shown) of the nuts 15, 15 can be passed through the enlarged openings 61, 61 so that they can be located below the plate 11. On the axle 2, I mount collar 16 by means of a key 17.

On the periphery of the cutter disc 1, I mount a curved knife 13 in the peripheral arcuate eccentric notch or recess 19. This knife may have either a single or double cutting edge dependingupon whether or not it is to cut cigarettes from one or two cigarette tubes fed to it. ln my preferred construction, the knife 18 is provided with two curved clamping plate 24, which is mounted above the curved knife 18. The clamping screws 25, 25 (Fig. 1) pass through the holes 23, 23 and 22, 22 and engage with screwthreads in the cutter disc 1. This cutter disc is also provided with one or two eccentric cam grooves 26, 27, for a purpose to be more fully hereinafter described. When the knife is provided with two cutting edges, it is, in effect, a double knife.

Mounted on the cigarette machine are two ledger plate bearings 28, 28 within which reciprocate the reciprocating ledger plates 29, 29 each ledger plate being provided with a blade opening 30. Each ledger plate is also provided with means for permitting the cutter disc to control its reciprocation. I have shown for example,"each reciprocating ledger plate 29 provided with a pin .31 upon which is mounted a roller 32, the roller cooperating with its own cam groove 26 or 27 in the cutter disc 1, the case may be.

lf my cutter is to be used simply to out cigarettes from a single cigarette tube 33, this tube or rod is fed over a feed wheel 34 and through one of the reciprocating ledger plates 29 at high speed. The cutter disc 1, rotating at high speed, causes the cutting edge 20, for example, of the knife 18 to pass into the {nife openings 30 in the reciprocating ledger plate shown, for example, in sections in Fig. 1. The knife 18, revolving at high speed passes through and completely severs the cigarette tube to form a cigarette. During the cutting of the cigarette tube 33 the active cutting edge of the knife 1S has traveled from the point 35 to the point 36 (Fig. 6). This exactly correspondstotheforward movement of the cigarette tube thereby preventing any buckling or marring of the cigarette tube 33 or the severed cigarettes 45, 45. During this travel of the cigarette tube 33, from point 35 to point 36, the reciprocating ledger plate 29 moves with and at the same speed as the cigarette tube 33, so that there is a positive and sheer cut of each cigarette from the tube, which enhances the appearance of the cigarettes and adds to their markctability.

The cut cigarettes tiien drop upon the de- {lect/or plate and onto a traveling belt 41, the belt moving preferably somewhat faster than the cigarette tube 33 so as te separate the cut cigarettes.. as shown in 1. These cut cigarettes fall into a hopper 42 and then pass to a packing machine 43 which is no part of my invention.

Se far l have described my invention simply cutting cigarettes from a single cigarette tube, the capacity of the cutter, oper ting with one cigarette tube, being approximately a thousand cigarettes a minute. ln my preferred construction, which is illustrated in the drawings, l feed a plurality of cigarette tubes, two cigarette tubes being shown 33, 33, over the feed rolls 34, 34, one

on either side of the cutter disc l. In this preferred form both cutting Yedges 2O and 2l of the knife 18 are brought into play each cutting edge cooperating with its own blade opening y in its own reciprocating ledger plate F29, the reciprocation of each ledger plate being controlled by the roller 32 mounted upon it, cooperating with its own cam groove 26 or 27 as the case may be.

The cigarette tubes 33, 33 may be fed from a single filling machine, or from two such filling machines, or any form of cigarette machine which will form continuous cigarette tubes and feed them at high speed to my cutter.

The cut cigarettes from the second cigarette tube 33 fall upon the other deiieeting plate 40 and thence onto the other belt 4l whi-ch is run at the same speed as the first belt 41 so as to separate the cutter cigarettes. Cut cigarettes from both the cigarette tubes 3.3, 33 may be permitted to fall into the hopper 42 and then pass to the machine 4.3, or one belt 4l may feed the cut cigarettes 45 into the compartment 46 of the hopper 42, while the cut cigarettes 45 from the other cigarette tube 33, will fall into the compartment 47 of the hopper 42. In this manner, the cigarettes from each cigarette tube can be separately packed, if for any reason this is necessary or desirable.

In Fig. 7 I have shown an automatic sharpener to automatically sharpen the knife 18, two of these Sharpeners being used to sharpen both cutting edges 2() and 2l (only one shown in the drawing).

On the stud 63 I pivotally mount an arm 64 in any suitable manner, as by bending the end 65 of the arm around the stud 63 and loosely securing it in this position by the screw 63. Gn the free end 67 of the arm is mounted any suitable sharpening surface as for example a block of carborundum 68 held in the seat 69 by the set screw 70.

It will be clear that on each revolution of the cut-ter disc 1 the edge of the blade of the knife 18 will engage with this Sharpener V63 and cause the arm 64 to rock on the pivot stud 63 against the action of the spring 7l. As soon as the knife disengages the Sharpener the spring 7l will cause the arm to snap back to the stop 72, ready to again sharpen thev blade on the next revolution of the cutter disc. The cutter, for the other cutting edge 21 (not shown) operates in the same man'- ner.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific mechanisms shown and described, but departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the accompanying claims without departing from the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What I claim is v l. A cigarette cut-olf mechanism including in combination a knife revolving in a circular path and. having a cutting edge eccentric to thecenter of said path, means for feeding a cigarette rod across the face of the circle described by the knife and in a plane intersected by the cutting edge of the knife, knife grinding means mounted adjacent said circular path and means for yieldingly maintaining the grinding means in continuous grinding contact with the eccentric cutting edge of the knife during the passage of the knife by the grinding means.

2. A cigarette cut-oft" mechanism including in combination a rotatable knife-supporting body, a knife projecting from the plane of rotation of said body, means for feeding a cigarette rod across the face of the circle described by the knife, different portions of the knife edge being positioned at different distances from the center of said circle, whereby the cutting edge of the knife travels with the cigarette rod during the cutting thereof, a movable ledger plate, and means for maintaining said ledger plate in shearing contact with the knife during the cutting operation.

3. A cigarette cut-olf mechanism including in combination a rotatable knife-supporting body, a knife projecting from the plane of rotation of said body, means for feeding a cigarette rod across the face of the circle described by the knife, different portions of the knife edge being positioned at different distances fro-m the center of said circle, whereby the cutting edge of the knife travels with the cigarette rod during the cutting thereof, a reciprocable ledger plate actuated from the drive shaft of the knife-supporting body, and means'for reciprocating said ledger plate in synchronism with the cutting movement of the knife.

4. A cigarette cut-off mechanism including in combination a rotatable knife-supporting body, a knife projecting from the plane of rotation of said body, means for feeding a cigarette rod acrossthe face of the circle described by the knife, different portions of the knife edge being positioned at different distances from the center of said circle, whereby the cutting edge of the knife travels with the cigarette rod during the cutting thereof, knife grinding means mounted adjacent the circle described by the knife and means for maintaining the grinder in continuous grinding contact with the cutting edge of the knife during the passage of the knife by the grinding means.

5. A cigarette cut-off mechanism including in combination a rotatable knife-supporting body, a knife projecting from the plane of rotation of said body, means for feeding a cigarette rod across the face of the circle described by the knife, different portions of the knife edge being positioned at different dis- Jfhe cutting edge of the knife travels With the cigarette rod during the cutting thereof, said knife being` Jcapered axially with respect to the rotatable body, knife grinding means mounted adjacent the circle described by the knife and means for maintaining the grinder in continuous grinding conta-ct With the cutting; edge of the knife during the passage of the knife by the grinding means.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM G. FORBES. 

